EVIL~! alkeiper

Harold Reynolds made the point that Baldelli should drop a bunt with the third baseman playing so deep. Four runs down, it seems like a reasonable move. That's one of the frustrating things about baseball nowadays. Players establish their strengths, the opposition adjusts. From there it becomes a battle of wills. Ryan Howard comes up yesterday, team down several runs and the defense playing the shift. The team needs baserunners. Why not make the opposition's strategy work against them? Baseball needs another Billy Martin. A guy looking for every possible angle within the ballgame.

Heenan managed Bockwinkel as world champ in the AWA for the better part of a decade, and they got their victories over Hulk Hogan in the process.

We have more than a chance, I think the Phillies are the flat out better team.

Seeing the bird flying around the infield reminds me of a minor league game a few years back in Scranton. Bird flies on the field. The players try to shoo it. First it settles around first base. Moves to second. Shooed again, on to the third base area. Damn thing rounded the bases!

Hey, Eagles lost today. P-H-I-L-L-I-E-S! I got out of work in time to catch the last three outs on radio. Michael Kay?! Jesus. Blanton came up big though.

Well shit. Hopefully the Phillies can get past the Brewers and take out the Dodgers. What I don't get is when the Cardinals reached the playoffs two years ago, no one could stop talking about their mediocre win/loss record. I really don't want to see an 84 win team in the World Series.

The Phillies swung at junk all night long. They need to get their heads on straight tomorrow.

Now this is getting dangerous. Feliz has no OBP but he can pop one.

Shame on TBS for not zooming in on those fans with a 2, 8 and a moving arrow. Quality.

The Phillies are really up there hacking. They need to settle down.

Not the greatest start, but the Phillies are well in this if they can hold this to two runs.

It was definitely filmed, I've seen the match. The Freebirds interfered and cost the Warriors the titles.

Ah postseason meltdowns. Bonus points for declaring the opponents World Champions when there are two rounds to go.

That Road Warriors/Freebirds reverse decision seemed like quite a lame double turn. Considering the Road Warriors fled the promotion three months later, they should have just run the title switch then and there. The irony of the six man tag title match is that the Russians would lose the titles when Baron Von Raschke actually substituted for Krushchev in a match.

In fairness, it is not the most uncommon motivational technique. Declare the highest possible recovery scenario, makes a person believe sometimes, you know? The problem was that the Mike Von Erich debacle continued well after it was apparent he had no business in the ring.

Bucknor's incompetence is well known by now. I'm really surprised it's tolerated. Is it me or does Buck Martinez have obvious bags under his eyes. He does these late games and then does XM's morning MLB show at 6am ET. Can't keep burning the candle at both ends.

Remember this is shortly after Mike Von Erich suffered toxic shock syndrome. Sad to see knowing how that whole saga ultimately played out.

Austin Jackson posted a line of .285/.354/.419 in AA Trenton this season. That does not see impressive at first glance. Jackson though is just 21 years old, and Trenton is one of the toughest hitters' park in all of professional baseball. (It sits on the shore of the Delaware River. Remember this point by the way the next time a Yankees pitching prospect breezes through Double A.) A one year rental would make a lot of sense. Jim Edmonds is out there and failing that, maybe Mark Kotsay. Jackson should be ready by 2010 at the latest.

Assuming Ruby Diamond was really from Boston. It's a common old school promotion tactic to claim a guy is local for the cheap pop.

Florida really has a few problems as a baseball state. 1. It's over saturated. In the Tampa Bay region, you have the Clearwater Threshers, Dunedin Blue Jays, Sarasota Reds, Tampa Yankees and Lakeland Tigers all playing nearby in the Florida State League. And of course those Spring Training games in March. Spring Training draws fantastic, but the FSL draws terribly. Perhaps crowds would rise if the product was consolidated. 2. Said Spring Training complexes probably hurt efforts to drive fan loyalty. I would bet that fan support in Florida is more fragmented than any other region. 3. Many residents of Florida head North during the summer. 4. Florida is a big tourist state. Tourists do not make good baseball fans. The result is that while you have many baseball fans, it is difficult to draw loyal fans to one team.

Sorry Cub fans, but that should've been called interference.

Attendance is invariably tied in with team quality. In this case, a first time contender could be a huge boost to the franchise so hey, I have no problem with that.

One benefit, I'll feel a lot better about the Phillies making the World Series if they steamroll the Dodgers, rather than the Cubs.

Starrcade '83 people! Even though Race/Flair is way overplayed, the Piper/Valentine match is brutal. And Steamboat/Youngblood vs. Briscos is pretty good as well.

This of course was assuming he won today (and the Brewers aren't finished yet, there are five more innings). But this is still a guy with a track record, and an extra day of rest. And Howard can NOT hit a lefty.